The Daily Show

The correspondent segments are at diminishing returns stage for me, unless the subject is particularly ripe.

Granted, the handprint-on-shirt bit was a little meh, but you can't hit homers every time.

but obv the reason he does this is so that he at least gets those people and sneak a skeptical question or two in. i guess that's his reasoning, i mean. yup, pretty depressing.

(hahahahaha XPOST of the century!)

He and Posh got on so well too.

Although, the time he got that Republican congressman from (TX?) and nailed him about the talking points that Kerry and Edwards were "1st and 4th most liberal" by playing dumb and asking the congressman to explain it to him, which the congressman couldn't do, so Stewart explained it to the congressman, and told him how he was using faulty logic: That was great. But you can't have those moments too often, or guests will be wary, and then you'll never get them. (Also it was a shame they didn't keep the congressman around to see how he tried to dig his way out of the hole.)

he's said many times that (i paraphrase) he's in the joke-writing business, not the world-changing business. call that fake naivete, but it's a good stance if it helps him retain his humility.

> They can only do so much and remain a comedy show.<

This is why I agree with Harry Shearer that comedy/satire should NEVER mix with real politicians. Credibility is lost, and the pols look humanized (Giuliani in a dress on SNL, etc).

Thank God I missed Stewart interviewing Kissinger whenever that happened. He should stick to Natalie Portman and Ludacris or can the interviews altogether.

Any of you see the episode w/ former NFL running back Robert Smith as the "guest"? Smith was promoting a book he (possibly co-)wrote about the dangers of hero worship, and JS was softballing him questions straight from the one-sheet as if he didn't read the book (or, as it seemed to me, had no interest in having Smith as a guest). Smith seemingly wanted to get in depth about the book's subject matter, but sounded just a bit pedantic when reiterating his thesis (which is the stock response re: "athletes shouldn't be heroes" Barkley's been offering since Smith was in Tuff Skins & headgear). After a few blah questions, Smith tried to call out JS on his not having read the book, which I think JS fessed up to. And the interview became VERY contentious - Smith acted like he got Stewart on something, and Stewart was just bemused as if it wasn't worth the effort to even engage in this cat & his self-important ponderous horsesense - it turned into an awkward posturing bout, wherein Stewart just played out the string until it was time for commercial. The "D" word wasn't said, but it was probably on the tongue.

It almost seemed as though politicians (& folks tangentially involved in politics) used The Daily Show as a pulpit prior to the election because they were afraid / in awe of its supposed power, which Stewart at once both plausibly denied - in interview after interview where he'd offer the "this is a COMEDY show" line - and gleefully exploited (re: giving low & mid-level BS artists the business when they'd come on the show toeing the company line).

Now that the election's gone, it seems as though some of the show's supposed cred (which was probably overvalued prior to November) has been lost in a sort of "stock correction", and folks w/ political capital are happy to accomodate. The results of the election seemed to solidify & reinfornce the "it's just satire" stance of the show to its detriment - regardless of the stance of the folks invovled with the show (whether they felt they were exacting change or just making w/ the hyuck-hyucks), seeing Bush & the Republicans win the popular vote (& win on other fronts, like the gay-marriage / gay-union issue) had to have been humbling. The first few post-election shows (reporting on the results & the direct aftermath) seemed a lot more resigned and fatigued than the biting, scathing stuff that was offered in previous months.

In other words, the cat's out of the bag, declawed and neutered, and everyone that was afraid of it is ever-so-glad to make it purr and preen as they see fit.

i guess that's neither here nor there but it gets my goat see

These days I get the sense that Stewart thinks these types of interviews are beneath him and the show, and as a result takes a contemptous and disinterested attitude towards the interviewees. Which would be okay if his interviews with the big fish weren't so disappointing, I guess.